Related Clinical Services

Department of Neurology at Boston Children's Hospital

Contact the Department of Neurology

617-355-6388

International: +1-617-355-5209

Schedule An Appointment: M-F 8:00am - 8:00pm

Boston Children’s Hospital Department of Neurology is the world’s oldest, largest and most experienced pediatric neurology program. Because of our program’s size, most of our child neurologists subspecialize in a specific type of disorder relating to the nervous system. This means that your child’s doctor will know about your child’s condition inside and out, including the very latest treatments. And, if your child’s condition affects other aspects of his health, his doctor will involve experts from medical specialty areas at Boston Children’s who will apply their knowledge to his unique situation.

Our entire team of doctors, nurses and support staff is focused on giving your child and family the best possible care.

For more information about our child neurology services, or to schedule an appointment or consultation, please contact us.

About the Department of Neurology

We understand that facing a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of your child’s neurological disorder can be very frightening. While our team is known for our science-driven approach, our doctors never forget that your child is a child—not just a patient. We specialize in innovative, family-centered care. From the moment of diagnosis through survivorship, you’ll work with our team of compassionate professionals who are committed to your child’s health and your family’s well-being.

When you come to Boston Children’s Hospital for neurological care, your child will be seen by a team of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners other specialists with expertise in all types of childhood nervous system disorders and their effects on growing children.

We have more than 50 child neurologists on our team who treat children with all types of nervous system disorders, including epilepsy, learning disabilities and other developmental disabilities, sleep disorders, neuromuscular disorders, brain tumors, genetic neurological disorders, neonatal conditions and neuro-immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. We work with doctors from every medical specialty area at Boston Children’s, such as Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, to meet all of your child and family’s medical, physical and emotional needs.

Here at the Neurology Department, our treatment is informed by our research. So your child is also supported by our network of neuroscience researchers who are intensely focused on improving our understanding and treatment of childhood neurological disorders. Our clinical and basic scientists work together to quickly move discoveries to the bedside so your child has access to the most advanced care possible.

In the news

Medgadget.com reports continuous intracranial pressure monitoring is an invasive procedure requiring a burr hole in the skull, while intermittent readings could involve spinal taps. There’s now a promising sign that all that may be about to change, as researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital are now using a special hearing test to gauge intracranial pressure non-invasively.

Nearly every boy wants a bicycle, but for Hunter, a 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, an adaptive bike that could provide him mobility and a new way to play seemed out of reach. Then his mother Bekah entered #GreatBikeGiveaway, a national contest that awards adaptive bicycles to a handful of children across the U.S. Learn about how Hunter won and what his Boston Children’s Hospital’s doctors say the bike could do for him.

The Harvard Gazette reports on a study, led by a team of researchers including Zhigang He, professor of neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital, that compared neurons in optic nerves to find why some regenerate and others don’t. The study is described in a March 18 paper in the journal Neuron.

ABC 10 in Albany, New York reports on seven year old Sammy Meyers who has Doose syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. He was having hundreds of seizures per day and medications weren’t helping him at all. Thanks to the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York, Sammy’s parents learned about the ketogenic diet and brought him to Boston Children’s Hospital to meet with Dr. Ann Bergin. Sammy has now been seizure free for over a year.

Boston Children’s Hospital’s Peter Raffalli, MD, FAAP, offers expert advice to parents who are concerned that their child may be bullied in an article in The Boston Globe. He says parents first need to distinguish between normal childhood spats and acts that cause severe harm.

Reuters Health reports that a team of Australian researchers reviewed 26 previously published studies on how naps impact sleep at night, as well as learning and behavior during the day. It may come as no surprise to parents that researchers found little consensus beyond the fact that after age two, kids who nap may not sleep as much at night. Boston Children's Judith Owens, MD, provides her insight.

Nature reports nerve cells that transmit pain, itch and other sensations to the brain have been made in the lab for the first time by research team at Boston Children’s led by Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD. The researchers say that the cells will be useful for developing new painkillers and anti-itch remedies, as well as understanding why some people experience unexplained extreme pain and itching.

MedPage Today reports that treatment of status epilepticus in critically ill children and adolescents usually failed to meet guideline-recommended standards for the initiation of therapies in a timely way. In a multicenter study involving 81 patients ages 1 month to 21 years, median times to start each of the four steps in the standard algorithm for status epilepticus treatment were far longer than recommended, according to Boston Children’s Tobias Loddenkemper, MD.

The Boston Globe reports autism rates in children have continued their steady rise, surging 30 percent in two years, according to the latest data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Boston Children’s Sarah Spence, MD provides comment on the new findings.

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